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The best Esperanto resources | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Esperanto |  | |
| zooplah Diglot Senior Member United States zooplah.farvista.net Joined 6372 days ago 100 posts - 116 votes  Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: German | Message 1 of 4 03 February 2010 at 3:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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There have been many anti-Esperanto comments on this board (all of which from people who know nothing about it; hence the use of terms like "must", "probably", "I doubt", etc.), so here are some good educational resources that probably well address your concerns (hopefully, it will reduce redundant replies):
REBUTTALS AGAINST OPPONENTS A reply to some arguments against Esperanto Esperanto unue (Translation: Firstly, Esperanto; the actual page is in English) A Beginning Chinese Esperantist (containing both the original Esperanto and the English translation) INTERESTING ARTICLES Claude Piron's Articles (multilingual) Free Software Is About Freedom, Not Software (Compares Esperanto to free/open-source software) How to Build a Language (History of constructed languages) LEARNING Free Esperanto Course Lernu! (multilingual) POPULAR REAL-WORLD WEB SITES IN ESPERANTO Wikipedia Ipernity PROGRAMS WITH ESPERANTO VERSIONS Esperantigitaj programoj Listo de programoj verkitaj en Esperanto Edited by zooplah on 16 February 2010 at 1:53am 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6443 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 2 of 4 14 February 2010 at 4:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'd also like to mention Esperanto literature. Specifically, Geoffrey Sutton's excellent "Concise Encyclopedia of the Original Literature of Esperanto" is very eye-opening, and should be more than enough to settle any argument about Esperanto having valuable original literature, as long as people are concerned with facts rather than preconceived notions.
I have a few notes on some other topics that come up frequently. 1) Esperanto has a culture, history, etc; there are books which deal with it at length, as well as many speakers who are familiar with it. Read "La danĝera lingvo" for an idea of the suppression and murder of many Esperanto speakers during the first half of the 20th century, for instance. One reason Esperanto isn't more popular is that so many of its pioneers were killed. The "Concise Encyclopedia of the Original Literature of Esperanto" gives a broader view of literature and language change. William Auld, one of the most celebrated Esperanto writers (he was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel prize in literature until his death) wrote "Kulturo kaj internacia lingvo". There are books on the use of Esperanto in education ("Bona Espero" is about a place in Brazil where the language of education is Esperanto), at least one book on the history of the Esperanto movement in Berlin alone, and so on, and so on. There are also historical periodicals in book form, such as the massive "La esperantisto: 1889-1895". 2) Acquiring Esperanto books is an annoyance. UEA has a large but limited supply, conferences are a bit ad-hoc, and libroservoj vary drastically in their customer service. Finding interesting things to read as you're starting is a definite problem. That said, there is some wonderful and gripping original literature in Esperanto. I'd say my favorite author is currently Tibor Sekelj; he primarily wrote in Esperanto, but is widely translated. I'd recommend checking out his books in a language you read. 3) Contemporary news reporting in Esperanto is an embarrassment; I don't see any way to reasonably deny that. 4) Native Esperanto speakers don't seem to have an advantage. I know several native speakers; they all speak excellent Esperanto, but they don't have the range of vocabulary that more devoted adult students of the language have achieved. It's better to be a native speaker than a half-hearted student, but Esperanto permits a beautiful flexibility of expression which adult learners often readily pick up, and it simply doesn't feel like the type of unequal footing one finds in national languages. Edited by Volte on 14 February 2010 at 5:00pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5870 days ago 979 posts - 1688 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish | Message 3 of 4 14 February 2010 at 8:54pm | IP Logged | ||
As a news junkie, daily news has been the mainstay of my second language learning. So the lack of daily news in Esperanto is a very major impediment for me. Fortunately, the Esperanto Wikipedia is good, and has some news. Another key part of my language learning is Google Translate but very unfortunately, alas, no Esperanto GT. Does anyone know if Google plans to add Esperanto to GT? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5851 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 4 14 February 2010 at 9:38pm | IP Logged | ||
I have read a bit about native Esperanto speakers, but I cannot estimate the topic from personal contacts. So I find this statement interesting to know about. I don't have the money to travel around, therefore my contacts with the Esperanto-movement are less intense than it could be. Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful |
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